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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160505083710/mailto:/?subject=Tea%20Leaves%3A%20What%20Japan%20told%20us%20then%2C%20and%20what%20it%20says%20now&body=Here%20is%20something%20from%20Nikkei%20Asian%20Review%20that%20might%20interest%20you%3A%0D%0ATea%20Leaves%3A%20What%20Japan%20told%20us%20then%2C%20and%20what%20it%20says%20now%0D%0Ahttp://s.nikkei.com/24EGAlt">Mail</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="article-box"> <div class="detail"> <div class="feature-article"> <div class="date-area">March 3, 2016 12:00 pm JST</div> <div class="sub-title">Tea Leaves</div> <h1 class="title">What Japan told us then, and what it says now</h1> <p>BILAHARI KAUSIKAN</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="article-box detail"> <div class="wysiwyg_area"> <div class="articleBodyText"> <p>I first visited Tokyo in 1981 and have been back annually since then, often several times a year, exploring all four main islands in the process.</p><p>     To long-time foreign observers and visitors, Japan in 2016 is almost a different country from Japan in 1981, the differences perhaps most vividly highlighted by the inconsequential, everyday misadventures of a foreigner in Tokyo 35 years ago.</p><div class="page_limit free"></div><div class="page_limit"></div><p>     Almost nobody understood English, or if they did -- and they were all supposed to have learnt the language in high school -- pretended not to.</p><p>     There were only a handful of stations on the Ginza line in central Tokyo that had signs in English -- foreigners were apparently not expected to stray too far. Not to lose my way, I had to stay awake to count stations, a challenge rarely met successfully after a few drinks.</p><p>     Credit cards were seldom accepted, cash the norm. But you could draw cash with a foreign credit card at only two ATMs in the greater Tokyo area, or at least there were only two where American Express was accepted.</p><p>     One was at Narita Airport, which was of no use at all if you were cashless downtown, the other buried in some obscure Ginza back alley, which I stumbled on only after lengthy and desperate explorations.</p><p>     I subsequently developed the foolish ambition of opening a Japanese bank account so I could use Japanese ATMs. I then learnt that Franz Kafka was actually Japanese, not Czech. Anyway, at the time, Japanese ATMs were placed inside banks and could be used only during banking hours. Why, I still don't know.</p><p>     Beyond just banking, a non-resident foreigner was made to jump through all manner of impossible hoops. I survived those early visits because the people were very kind and invariably helpful even to a particularly gormless foreigner. Today all this seems quaint. Japan -- not just Tokyo -- is now much more foreigner-friendly, relatively speaking.</p><p><b>Change, of sorts</b></p><p>Japan does change. It has "internationalized," but at a rate that makes a snail's pace seems dizzying. And unless you visit regularly, you might not notice the changes. They are not apparent to the occasional visitor.</p><div class="page_break auto free"></div><div class="page_break auto"></div><p>     There are more foreigners, too. I don't mean just tourists. You'll be hard pressed to find Japanese serving staff in many restaurants and perhaps not at all in convenience stores at night. Many are working illegally in Japan, of course. You could call it the Kabuki theater alternative to having a proper foreign-labor policy, after the black-clad scene shifters who you do not see on stage because you are not supposed to see them.</p><p>     All this may not have mattered much when Japan was thought to be becoming the world's number one economy or even when it was number two. It matters now when the world is becoming a more uncertain and unpredictable place.</p><p>     History shows that Japan does very well when the international environment has a clear structure. It does badly when the world is in flux.</p><p>     Meiji Japan adapted perfectly to the colonial era and "left Asia" in favor of modernization and Westernization. Japan failed miserably in the late Taisho and early Showa periods of the 20th century when the international situation was shifting and the country was nearly destroyed after its wars in East Asia.</p><p>     Japan again adapted perfectly to the Cold War system. But I don't think it was an accident that the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party split in 1993, two years after the USSR collapsed and the world started to change.</p><p>     Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan at last has enjoyed a stable government after a baker's dozen of prime ministers since 1993. His proactive diplomacy has been welcomed in much of Southeast Asia. Many people also think his reorientation of defense and security policy was overdue.</p><p>     But the sustainability of Abe's policies is going to depend on structural reform to its economy. Here I fear, as in Japan's internationalization, the changes are going to be apparent only after decades. With a rapidly aging population, a more flexible attitude towards immigration and foreign labor are essential. Japan cannot afford a <i>sakoku</i> isolationist attitude of introspection or to adapt so leisurely in today's international environment.</p><p>     It is the conservatives who otherwise support Abe, who seem most resistant to structural change. I wonder if they realize that many, if not most, of those non-Japanese serving staff in restaurants and convenience stores, or <i>konbini,</i> are Chinese.</p><p><i>Bilahari Kausikan, a frequent visitor to and friend of Japan's, is former permanent secretary and currently ambassador-at-large of Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs; these are his personal views.</i></p> </div> </div> <div id="modal-screen_zoom"></div> </div> <div class="pagination no-border"></div> <div class="related-list"> <p class="related-header">Related stories</p> <ul class="point-list"> <li><a href="/web/20160505083710/http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/20160128-SHATTERED-HOPES/Tea-Leaves/Debunking-the-top-10-Western-myths-about-Asia">Debunking the top 10 Western myths about Asia</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20160505083710/http://asia.nikkei.com/Viewpoints/Viewpoints/Why-no-Trump-san-Japanese-lessons-on-populism"><span class="sub-title-s">Peter Tasker: </span>Why no Trump-san? 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